18.8.08

WOMEN ONLY (2008)

If it is a common belief that we indeed live in a post-feminist era, in which both the transcendence of discriminations imposed historically as well as ideologically on the grounds of gendered identity (interpreted as the biological difference between men and women) and the subsequent establishment of an anthropologically multiple subjectivity (the basis of which was sexual orientation) now exist, then an exhibition that that only features works by female artists and brings to mind the “all-women-shows” of the ‘70s and ‘80s would seem divisive, retro, even futile. Feminism should be, however, understood as a social reality of discourses that continue to exist –even if they are differentiated in terms of the objectives, geographies and subjects to which they refer. Obviously, a contemporary art exhibition that looks into whether there is some “essence” that forms the constructed genre “women’s art” or the population category of Greek women artists, would unquestionably be a fallacy, if it did not take into consideration the research of the political uses (in the general meaning of the term) that set in motion essentialist invocations at every historical moment, as well as the mapping of cracks to the construction of any such essence.Innovative efforts of artists –mainly women– sensitized in issues of gender and artworks of feminist orientation that have acted at the same time in other fronts changing thus art's landscape in the last four decades, have started to become recognized, via curated exhibitions and scholar research. Specifically, the most interesting developments in art in this era are precisely so interesting, partly due to the movements of feminist art. The exhibition “Women Only – Female Greek Artists from the Beltsios Collection”, one of the first shows featuring the work of Greek artists from 1965 to the present, speaks on these goals.